Making his first major public appearance since AAP’s defeat in the Delhi elections, Arvind Kejriwal has once again taken aim at INDIA bloc-ally, Congress. Speaking at AAP’s ‘Ek Shaam Shaheedon Ke Naam’ event on Sunday, Kejriwal accused both the BJP and Congress of colluding.
Kejriwal said We consider Bhagat Singh and Baba Saheb Ambedkar our ideals. There are pictures of both of them in our house and in every office of the Delhi and Punjab governments. The first thing the new government in Delhi did was to remove the pictures of both. We were waiting for them (BJP) to announce Rs 2,500 to women. But they removed the pictures of Bhagat Singh and Baba Saheb and put up pictures of their leaders first.
He added When we put up the pictures of these two, Congress protested that Gandhiji’s picture was not put up. However, when the BJP removed the photos of these two, Congress did not say anything. There is a collusion between these two. Kejriwal recalled how Bhagat Singh’s letters from jail were delivered to his comrades despite being critical of the British. In contrast, he alleged that his own letter from prison never reached the Lieutenant Governor and instead led to a show cause notice against him.
He said I wrote a letter to LG that I was in jail, so Atishi should be allowed to hoist the flag. There was nothing wrong with this. I gave a letter to the jail superintendent, but the letter did not reach LG, and I got a show cause notice that how dare I write such a letter. Bhagat Singh had the freedom to write any letter, but I could not write a letter of two lines. You (BJP) are worse than the British.
The campaign saw Rahul Gandhi launching scathing attacks against Kejriwal, accusing him of corruption and misgovernance. The Congress had alleged that AAP was responsible for the liquor scam and criticised Kejriwal for failing to maintain the legacy of previous Congress-led governments in Delhi. The animosity between AAP and Congress had intensified in the run-up to the elections, with Kejriwal frequently hitting back at Gandhi’s allegations.